A Brother's Price

Eva, who usually echoed Summer’s desire—but also her inability to stand against Corelle’s will. Likewise, though, Kira followed Corelle’s lead almost blindly. Two for, two against, if Summer and Eva had the courage to stand against Corelle. Too bad Heria would not be old enough for a say in the marriage; she disliked the Brindles.
    If the seven elder sisters all opposed the swap, they outweighed the middle sisters completely. If they too were in disagreement, he didn’t want to even consider the way the vote might fall.
    He didn’t want to marry the Brindles! If such things were strictly up to his mothers, then he knew his desire would be considered first. In the matter of husbands, though, their mothers bowed to the women who would actually bed the man.
    Jerin dressed and picked up his muddy clothes to rinse them clean before the dirt could set. He would have to keep hoping things would work out the way he wished. To be disheartened—when his older sisters might all agree with him—was silly.
    Blush’s voice suddenly rose from the front door in shrill panic.
    “Riders coming in!” Blush screamed. “Corelle! Summer! Eva! Riders are coming!”
    Jerin ran to his dormer window and looked out. A dozen of riders, maybe more, were coming across the pasture from the creek bottom. The Queens Justice would come from the other direction, from out across the grain fields.
    The riders stopped in the apple orchard, out of volley range. Some of the riders split off from the main group and circled the house, checking the barns and outbuildings.
    Their horses were fine, showy specimens, well cared for but ridden hard. Like that of the wounded soldier’s, their saddles and bridles gleamed with polish and bits of silver. Blonde-, black-, brown-, and red-haired, the riders lacked the unity of sisters. Somewhat comforting was the fact that half of them wore uniforms of the Queens Army—but then again, Jerin’s grandmas had been soldiers when they kidnapped his grandfather.
    The riders converged under the apple trees again, discussed what they found and started for the house. When they reached optimal volley range, there was a clatter of rifles being slid through the slits in the shutters.
    “That’s far enough!” Corelle’s voice shouted from the dining room window. “We’ve summoned Queens Justice and they will be arriving soon. We suggest you move on.”
    A black-haired woman on a huge black horse shouted back. “In the name of the Queens, we ask for a parley like civilized women, not this screaming at one another through walls.”
    There was a whispered discussion in the dining room as the middle sisters conferred. Corelle suddenly ran back into the kitchen, unlatched the bottom half of the back door, and ducked out, snapping, “Lock it behind me” to Kettie. A moment later Corelle trotted around the corner of the house, rifle in hand, looking tall, cool, and unafraid.
    For the first time in months, Jerin loved her and almost wept at the sight of her outside, alone, in front of the armed soldiers.
    “So we talk,” Corelle stated.
    “I’m Captain Raven Tern,” said the black-haired woman.
    “Corelle Whistler. This is the Whistlers’ farm. You’re trespassing. We will defend our property and the lives of our younger sisters.”
    “You have a roan mare in your stables that doesn’t belong to you.” Captain Tern motioned to the horse barn. Heria must have put the roan in the first stall, making the mare visible from the barnyard. “It belonged to a red-haired woman. Where is she?”
    Corelle gave them a cold stare, then finally admitted,
    “We found the woman down in the creek, beaten and nearly drowned. We brought her home, as the law states we should, and gave her comfort. We’ve sent for Queens Justice. They will deal with the matter.”
    There was a shift in the group—shoulders straightening, heads lifting, flashes of smiles—as if the news was good, as if they had expected the soldier to be dead and didn’t want to hear that unpleasant report.
    “She’s alive?” Captain Tern asked, her voice less harsh.
    Corelle considered for a moment, then nodded slowly. “She is alive and, from time to time, awake, but has taken a blow to the head that has left her disoriented. We don’t know who attacked her. We don’t want trouble. We have children here to protect.”
    Tern gave a slight laugh. “You’re not much more than a child yourself. Where are your mothers? Don’t you have any elder